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Super-spreading wedding demonstrates Covid-19 risk posed by holiday gatherings

latimes.com

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Re: Super-spreading wedding demonstrates Covid-19 risk posed by holiday gatherings

#31

Post by roody15 »

f38zf5vdt wrote: post #18
roody15 wrote: post #9

"Coming from both the left and right, and around the world, we have devoted our careers to protecting people. Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health. The results (to name a few) include lower childhood vaccination rates, worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes, fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health – leading to greater excess mortality in y…

I really lament that HackerNews has become just another outlet for political propaganda and manipulation. It didn't used to be this bad, but now there's large scale brigading of the top comment sections just like at reddit. I don't know what the solution is, but the reddit/HackerNews model of discussion definitely has its downsides in the face of malicious actors.

Sadly it looks the US has really moved rapidly to copy the China style internet monitoring and control. Astroturfing everywhere has really ramped up. So much noise...

Re: Super-spreading wedding demonstrates Covid-19 risk posed by holiday gatherings

#32

Post by mumblemumble »

newfeatureok wrote: post #11

By sheer coincidence I’ve been reading World War Z and it’s amazing how in the real world we’re making the same mistakes that countries in the book made against the zombies. Of course the situation is entirely different, but it’s interesting. Why doesn’t the government actually just enforce rules? So many lockdowns, mandates and laws but so little enforcement, or the penalty is not commensurate with the risk. What’s…

> Why doesn’t the government actually just enforce rules?

Because there is no government to enforce the rules. Only a loose aggregation of individuals, each with their own personal interests. Those interests often include things like, "I don't want to do anything that might anger people and lose me the next election," or, "If I cite someone for this, I am going to have even more paperwork to do when I get back to the station."

This way of thinking about how civic institutions behave becomes particularly important in a country like the USA whose cultural values tend to place individual freedom above many other things, including civic duty.

Re: Super-spreading wedding demonstrates Covid-19 risk posed by holiday gatherings

#33

Post by jjulius »

atty wrote: post #20

What are HNers planning to do for the holidays? We’re seriously considering not seeing anyone, not even parents, even though my SO has had COVID already (she works at a hospital and contracted it from COVID patients). Stories like this are the main reason. Even if no one at the party gets very ill, the chance of further spreading it to others seriously scares me.

Normally we'd fly out of town for Thanksgiving/Christmas to our respective families, but my wife and I are staying put this year. My parents are coming to us for Thanksgiving, but we are making them get tested the weekend prior, quarantine at home for a few more days, then they are driving to us only stopping for gas (so, wipe down the pump with a Clorox wipe and then use hand sanitizer after touching it).

That process alleviates enough of the fear for us.

Edit: Why the downvote? This answers OP's question, and if I'm being downvoted due to concerns around spreading a virus then by all means, please feel free to start a discussion around why this option might be unsafe. Nobody in my family has traveled yet this holiday season and I'm not trying to be cavalier about this, so any additional input is welcome.

Re: Super-spreading wedding demonstrates Covid-19 risk posed by holiday gatherings

#34

Post by yboris »

post_break wrote: post #8

Thanksgiving is going to be one massive super spreading event, and I shudder to think about christmas.

Joke: Thanksgiving this year will be very special, because just like the first Thanksgiving, we'll be spreading disease.

Re: Super-spreading wedding demonstrates Covid-19 risk posed by holiday gatherings

#36

Post by jcranmer »

atty wrote: post #20

What are HNers planning to do for the holidays? We’re seriously considering not seeing anyone, not even parents, even though my SO has had COVID already (she works at a hospital and contracted it from COVID patients). Stories like this are the main reason. Even if no one at the party gets very ill, the chance of further spreading it to others seriously scares me.

I was hoping to see my immediate family (total gathering size = 7 people) for one or both of the holidays, but the infection rate skyrocketing in the past few weeks has pretty much nixed those plans.

The big extended family gathering (~40-50 people) at Christmas has already been cancelled.

Re: Super-spreading wedding demonstrates Covid-19 risk posed by holiday gatherings

#37

Post by vemv »

Would transmission have been the same if the wedding happened in a 100% outdoor setting?

(the article explicitly mentions this was at least in part in an indoor setting)

We have enough evidence to teach people that the very least they can do is paying attention to air flow. Somehow we aren't.

Re: Super-spreading wedding demonstrates Covid-19 risk posed by holiday gatherings

#38

Post by beaconstudios »

newfeatureok wrote: post #11

By sheer coincidence I’ve been reading World War Z and it’s amazing how in the real world we’re making the same mistakes that countries in the book made against the zombies. Of course the situation is entirely different, but it’s interesting. Why doesn’t the government actually just enforce rules? So many lockdowns, mandates and laws but so little enforcement, or the penalty is not commensurate with the risk. What’s…

and other incentives too - enforcement is going to be hard on the scale of "everyone on the planet", but I wonder why people who got the cough went back to work. Would it have hurt their employment prospects to take the time off? Did they have responsibilities that were not able to be covered by coworkers? Understanding why people don't follow the rules by themselves is important - tweaking the incentives in the system could help to lower the R rate, where I think having the police monitor the social lives of everyone on the planet is not a viable solution.

Re: Super-spreading wedding demonstrates Covid-19 risk posed by holiday gatherings

#39

Post by ceejayoz »

mrtksn wrote: post #28

According to the article, the result was 177 infections and 7 deaths. That's almost %4 death rate, way over the official US death rate. Any idea why would that be?

The article indicates the spread reached a long-term care facility, and that almost all the deaths were there.

Re: Super-spreading wedding demonstrates Covid-19 risk posed by holiday gatherings

#40

Post by exabrial »

ceejayoz wrote: post #5

It also demonstrates why the "personal choice" stuff is BS here. I see a lot of folks going "why are you worried if you're following the rules yourself?", and yet... > None of the victims who lost their lives had attended the party.

So... my body, _not_ my choice?
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